7 Aftermath
by daxie42
Summary: In Primeval Evolved Sarah said Becker was looking for her so this is my take on what happens when he finally catches up to her.


**A/N : Thanks to lukadreaming and fredbassett for betaing it.**

An hour after the team returned to the ARC, Becker had sent Sarah an e-mail asking her to drop by his office when she had some free time as he wanted to discuss something with her. She had e-mailed him back to try to find out what it was about but he had replied saying that he would rather talk about it in person. Sarah couldn't shake the feeling that he knew she had gone through the anomaly without permission, so she e-mailed him back saying she was really busy and it seemed unlikely that she would be able to find time to talk to him today. Since then she had done her best to avoid him.

"Sarah," Connor called to her as she walked past a storeroom.

"Yeah." She turned and raised her eyebrows questioningly.

"You couldn't reach that box of beakers for me, could you?"

Sarah looked at the box he was pointing to, on a high shelf. She looked at him sceptically. "The ladder's right there, you can get it."

"I have a problem with heights," Connor replied, looking sheepish.

Sarah sighed. "Fine. Which box did you want?" she asked when she got to the top of the ladder.

"Actually I don't think I'm going to need those after all."

"What?" Sarah turned to glare at Connor and almost let go of the ladder in surprise when she saw Becker standing next to him. "Connor what…"

"Sorry Sarah, he asked me to stall you and I owed him a favour," Connor explained.

"Must have been a huge favour," she retorted, scowling at him.

"Yeah pretty much," Connor replied, making Becker smirk.

"You can go, I'd like to talk to Dr Page in private," Becker said to Connor.

Sarah cringed. It had been a while since Becker had called her Dr Page and the fact that he had gone back to old habits let her know she was in serious trouble.

Connor gave her an apologetic look as he left and Becker shut the door behind him.

"Are you going to come down from there?"

"I think I'm safer up here."

He frowned. "Do you think this is funny?"

"No, I-"

"You went through an anomaly without permission or back-up. Do you realise how dangerous that is?"

"Yes I do –"

"What if more of those creatures had been waiting on the other side of the anomaly? Or what if someone had seen you walk out of the anomaly and thought you were a witch and you'd ended up being burnt at the stake? Or you contracted some kind of contagious disease? Or what if the anomaly had closed with you on the other side?" He paused to take a breath.

"You've put a lot of thought into this haven't you?" She asked, genuinely touched but noticing too late that it had sounded sarcastic when she said it.

He ignored her. "I knew something wasn't right when you came back with that dress on." Becker continued his tirade and Sarah couldn't help wondering if his anger was coming from somewhere other than just concern for a colleague, but she pushed that thought to the back of her mind, concentrating on what he was saying. "And then you were kidnapped by a knight – you're just lucky he was so intent on killing that Dracorex."

"Hey!" Sarah interjected, realising what he was implying. "William would never have killed me."

"He almost killed Abby."

"But he didn't in the end, did he? Look I understand that you're annoyed, what I did was reckless…"

"More like idiotic, insane…"

"I get it all right? It was stupid of me to go through the anomaly without back-up" she stopped him, "but I'm not sorry."

Becker looked at her in disbelief and she added: "I stopped William from killing Danny and if I hadn't have gone through that anomaly we would never have found out who he was or how to talk him out of killing the Dracorex. If I had to walk through another anomaly tomorrow to get answers I wouldn't hesitate."

There was something in the way Becker looked at her that warned her she had said the wrong thing. "Well if you're not going to listen to me, perhaps you'll listen to Lester."

Sarah looked at him in shock. "You wouldn't."

He gave her a humourless smile and opened the door. "He's expecting my report," he said curtly.

"Becker, wait!" Sarah called as she scrambled down the ladder, but by the time she reached the ground he was gone.

*********************************************************************

Sarah admired Abby's prehistoric plants. After her encounter with Becker she wasn't in the mood for hard work.

"These plants are coming along nicely," she commented.

Abby smiled proudly as she watered one of them. "Yeah, it was a pain having to start from scratch again but it's worth it." Sarah touched one.

"Be careful with Bert." Abby cautioned. Sarah glanced up at her.

"You named the plants?"

Abby shrugged. "If people can have names, and animals can have names, why not plants?"

"Fair enough. Although, why Bert?"

"It looks like a Bert," Abby replied without hesitation, making Sarah smile. "I think that's the first time you've smiled since you got back. Is everything okay?"

"Becker had a go at me for…running off on my own," Sarah replied evasively.

"You have to admit that was dangerous."

"A bit hypocritical coming from the person who was willing to sacrifice her own life to protect the Dracorex, don't you think?"

"Well…"

"Dr Page I've been looking for you."

Sarah got a sinking feeling in her stomach when she saw Lester standing in the doorway.

"Could you give us some privacy, Miss Maitland?"

"I should check on the Dracorex anyway." Putting down the watering can, she left quickly and Lester closed the door behind her.

"Is something wrong?" Sarah asked, trying her best to look innocent.

"No, I just wanted to say you did good work out in the field today."

"Okay." She wondered if he was just trying to lull her into a false sense of security before he attacked.

"Becker told me you saved Danny's life and he also pointed out that you played a key role in convincing the knight to return home without causing any more damage."

"Yeah, well I…"

"However, he also mentioned that the knight kidnapped you after you ran off on your own, so in the future, when you deal with anything that comes through the anomaly remember to take back-up with you."

"I will."

Lester turned to leave.

"Is that all?"

Lester turned back. "Well since you brought it up, there is one other thing."

'_Yeah, really should have kept my mouth shut,' _she thought_._ "Which is?"

"I understand the knight gave you a coin?"

"Yes," Sarah said warily, unsure if Lester was going to say it was government property and demand she hand it over.

"May I see it?"

Sarah took it out of her pocket and gave it to him.

He flipped it over in his hands. "Nice," Lester commented, handing it back. "Keep it safe."

"I will."

After Lester had left the room, Sarah frowned in confusion _'How much does Lester know about what really happened?'_

She knew there was only one person she was going to get answers from.

*********************************************************************

It was late at night when Sarah finally knocked on Becker's office door.

"Come in," he called.

She opened it, to find was Becker sitting at his desk working on the computer. He looked at her expectantly.

"I thought you might like a cup of tea," she explained, holding out the one she had in her hand.

"Is that supposed to make things all right?" he asked sceptically.

"Well you can shout at me some more if you want," she replied and braced herself for another onslaught.

"No."

She looked at him in surprise.

"Close the door and sit down."

Sarah walked over to his desk, put the cup on it and sat down in the chair opposite him.

"I may have over-reacted-" he began, but Sarah shook her head and held up her hand to stop him.

"I thought about what you said and you're right, I should've taken someone with me."

Becker sighed. "I just want you to take more care when you're out in the field, things can go wrong very easily."

Sarah nodded her head, remembering the terror birds.

"I don't want to lose another member of the team," he added.

"You didn't tell Lester, did you? About what I did," she asked cautiously

Becker shook his head. "No," he admitted. "It was close, though."

"Why didn't you?"

He raised his eyebrows, a slight smile on his lips. "Do you want me to change my mind?"

"No, no, I'm just curious."

"Mainly because admitting to Lester that it was so easy for you to convince one of my men to let you through the anomaly would have reflected badly on the whole Special Forces team."

Sarah felt a bit guilty, she hadn't really thought about the effect her actions would have had on anyone else when she had gone through the anomaly.

"But that's not going to happen again."

"It's not?"

"I've instructed all of my men that they have to get final confirmation from me before anyone is allowed through the anomaly – especially if it's you. Is that going to be a problem?"

Sarah considered rising to the bait, but decided to let it go. She shrugged nonchalantly. "Seems fair." She checked her watch. "It's getting late, I'm going home."

"I'll see you tomorrow," Becker said, returning to his work.

She paused by the door, "Becker."

"Yes?"

"Thank you for not telling Lester."

"You're welcome Sarah, thanks for the tea." She was relieved that he was using her first name again.

"You're welcome - are you ever going to tell me your first name?"

"One day."

"I'll find out sooner or later."

"Didn't you say you were going home?"

"Subtle. Goodnight."

"Night."


End file.
